trevo1
trevo1
| Forum role | Member since | Last activity | Topics created | Replies created |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Oct 21, 2012 (13 years) |
- | 1 | 2 |
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Bio
trevor mcclaughlin - Australia | LinkedIn
https://au.linkedin.com/pub/trevor-mcclaughlin/26/431/135
Since the late 1970s I've been working on the Irish famine orphans. It is, some might say, my misguided attempt to take history outside the Academy. As my old Professor R.B.McDowell said, history has to be more than professional historians sitting in a locked room talking to one another.
With help from Macquarie university and the Australian Research Grants Scheme (ARGS) i was able to gain access to Birth, Death and Marriage (BDM) records in New South Wales and Victoria, and pay someone to research the vital statistics of orphans who went to Queensland.This work, research in Ireland whilst on sabbatical and information from family historians was the basis of my 2 volumes of "Barefoot & Pregnant?" published in 1991 and 2001/2.
The orphans' 'story' has always attracted the media. In 1987 I participated in a BBC NI (Northern Ireland) programme with the great Pat Loughrey, and another for the BBC's "Women's Hour" in 1994. In 2001 I had the privilege of appearing in Siobhan McHugh's brilliant Radio National programme which was broadcast again on 'Hindsight' 11 August 2013 ... you may need to download the programme from the ABC Radio National website http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/hindsight/the-famine-girls/4857904. Before that, briefly in the SBS Television series on "The Irish Empire"... in episode three, if memory serves me right. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0273362/
More recently, in 2013, Barrie Dowdall's very successful film series for TG4, "Mna Dibeartha" ( accents missing) also gave an important place to the young famine orphan girls.The series was repeated in 2015.
See http://www.convictwomenandorphangirls.com where a DVD can be ordered.
Writers, too, are fascinated by the orphan girls' story. In the early 1990s, J. P. Rooney's "Permanent Deadweight" had a successful run with the Charabanc Theatre Company. Prize winning author Kirsty Murray put an orphan girl as the principal character in her "Bridie's Fire", the first in her Children of the Wind series. And James Moloney published with Scholastic Press (2015), his "Bridget" in a 'New Australian' series for children.
Jaki McCarrick's play, "Belfast Girls", had a great run in London in 2012. It played to rave reviews at Artemisia Theatre in Chigago, in May and June 2015. See http://www.artemisiatheatre.org/p/american-premiere-of-belfast-girls-by.html
I'm hoping it will be developed into a film.
In 2015, Kay Caball’s excellent book, "Kerry Girls", and Barbara Barclay’s website www.mayoorphangirls.weebly.com are showing the way forward for local studies which i believe is the best way to go.
The inimitable Evelyn Conlon published "Not the Same Sky" (Wakefield Press) about the young women. It was launched in 2013 at the International Famine gathering in Sydney. And had a second launching in Dublin and London, in May 2015, to great acclaim..
Other 'events' celebrating the young women include, the re-enactment of the arrival of the Thomas Arbuthnot orphans, Richard Reid, Cheryl Mongan and the Yass Historical Society in 1996 It was in 1996 that Richard and Cheryl published their ground-breaking "'a decent set of girls' The Irish Famine orphans of the Thomas Arbuthnot 1849-1850".
Gary Crockett of Sydney Living Museums curated a continuing, long running, and highly successful exhibition at Hyde Park Barracks, see http://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/stories/irish-orphan-girls-hyde-park-barracks
There was a new exhibition, in 2014, at the same place, curated by Fiona Starr on Emigrant women at Hyde Park Barracks was a 'must see'; it had one of the boxes brought by an orphan to Australia over 160 years ago.
Through the 'noughties' I had the privilege of working with Tom Power and the Great Irish Famine Commemoration Committee. With the technical expertise of Jennifer Bainbridge I was able to establish the first version of www.irishfaminememorial.org website.
The Committee and website continue to flourish in the capable hands of Patricia Strong and her team. Perry McIntyre passed the baton to Patricia in 2015. Perry makes sure the website has the most up to date information about the orphans. Recently (2020) Trish Power, Tom's wife, took over the reins. Please give her what help you can.
Maybe with so many young people emigrating from Ireland in recent times, the Famine orphans are striking a chord in the collective psyche once more?
This blog is my attempt to set down what I know about Earl Grey's Famine orphan scheme. You are not compelled to take my word on anything.
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